


Rock the World

by Small_Nerd (orphan_account)



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Gen, making up bands for fun and no profit, this is a biopic but in novel form
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-18 16:04:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18253205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Small_Nerd
Summary: This is a story of the music industry chewing up and spitting out talented young artists. This is a story of young people challenging the status quo and shaking society to its foundations. This is a story of making peace out of conflict.And this is the story of the greatest rock band to ever come out Inkopolis: Woomy Brigade.





	Rock the World

The City of Inkopolis was, as usual, bustling on a sunny day. On this day, however, an observer sitting around at one of the city's many outdoor tables would almost certainly notice the triumphant hooting and hollering of one particular Inkling as she danced around the city, a piece of paper in her hands as she made her way to a run-down apartment. This Inkling's name was Mel, and she had good news for her roommates.

 

All three of those roommates happened to be in their apartment's main room when Mel burst through the door, but the combined weight of three simultaneous gazes failed to dampen her mood. Waving the paper in her hand around, Mel told them what was up.

 

"So you know how I ran into that record label fish the other day? Well, I got to meet with her for eel today, and she wants to sign us! I did some digging, this is the same label that puts out Wet Floor and the Chirpy Chips, we could really get our name out there. What do you gals think?"

 

"I dunno about this," said Carrie, shifting in her seat as she put the TV on mute. "It'd be the easiest thing in the world to sell out once we do this, and I dunno if I could live with myself if we did."

 

Dana raised an eyebrow at the words and waved around at the group's surroundings as she said, "Look at where we are, Carrie. If selling out means we get out of this dump, I'll be the first in line to look for a buyer."

 

Carrie silently conceded the point. The band's apartment was a set of three rooms coated in a layer of grime that never quite disappeared no matter how many times it was scrubbed. A single bedroom housed four mattresses, all pretty worn, and the main living-room-slash-kitchen played host to a barely functional fridge and stove as well as a ratty couch in front of a TV as old as any of the apartment's occupants that was hooked up to Flora's old, halfway busted Super Squidtendo. The bathroom didn't bear thinking about, and no one had used it in at least three months. It simply wasn't worth the risk.

 

"So what kind of agreement did you get us, anyway?" Flora asked, shifting from the wall she had been leaning on as she kept an eye out for any birds making their way through the holes in the window screens. Again.

 

Mel froze and all three of her friends could see the gears turning in her mind.

 

"Uh..." was the only sound from Mel's mouth for an entirely too long moment, ended only by the light bulb going off in her head and prompting something intelligible.

 

"She said it was pretty normal, we agree to put out three albums...or four, maybe?...and the label gets about a tenth of the money from record and merch sales. I got the sense creative control was gonna stay with us, mostly. You know how labels are, they gotta take out the swears words for radio play and all that. They'll do all the promo work and line up a producer for us, get us studio time and gigs and all that. Once we've put out all the albums we're s'posed to, we can renegotiate the contract or just leave. Er, I think so, anyway. All the legalese went over my head a bit."

 

Flora took the contract from Mel's hands and looked it over for a moment before scowling and handing it back.

 

"It's no good, " she said. "The font's  _just_ big enough to read, and I'm not risking the headache. What you said sounds like what I've heard label contracts are like, at least, so I don't think we're getting tricked."

 

"Sweet!" Dana shouted. "Well, I'm down for this. You got any more objections, Carrie?"

 

The Inkling in question looked down at her hands for a long time. As much as she wanted to live somewhere...well, livable, she also wanted to be able to live with herself. And she thought the others wanted both of those things too.

 

"How do we make sure we don't sell out?" she finally asked.

 

Dana rolled her eyes. "This isn't one of those band movies, Carrie. We're not gonna touch a briefcase full of money and turn into assholes right then and there. We know what to look out for, we'll be fine."

 

"...All right," Carrie finally said as her hands fidgeted even more than normal. "If you're all sure about this, I guess I am too. I trust you gals."

 

"All right!" Mel said. "Woomy Brigade's getting itself a label."

 

Dana smirked. "Inkopolis better watch out, cause we're gonna hit it harder than they can imagine."

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome, one and all, to my latest story and my first Splatoon fic! One of my favorite things about Splatoon is its worldbuilding, especially its emphasis on pop culture, so I wanted to do a story about that. Combine that with my love of stories about rock bands and my speculations about Inkopolis politics (more on that to come), and, well, here we are. Woomy Brigade is an original band I've been working on for some time, so I have a fair amount of info about them to share if anyone's interested. Also, please excuse my artistic license in deciding that Wet Floor and Chirpy Chips have the same label. Their shared habit of blending genres (and both include punk rock in their mix of styles) made me think both bands would probably get picked up by the same company.


End file.
